Now Showing: HIFF Launches New Screening Series at Guild Hall

Starting this month, the Hamptons International Film Festival (HIFF) and Guild Hall are launching Now Showing, a new series of screenings that will bring notable films currently in theaters, but not slated for the East End, to Guild Hall in East Hampton. The series features first run, acclaimed art house, independent and world cinema, curated by HIFF, on select Saturday nights at John Drew Theater.

Faces Placesfrom legendary filmmaker Agnés Varda kicks things off on Saturday, December 16 at 6 p.m. An official selection of the Cannes and New York Film Festivals, the documentary takes audiences on a road trip with Varda and French photographer and muralist JR around the villages in France as they find portraits and the stories behind them. Varda recently received an honorary Oscar for her life’s work as a film director.

On Saturday, December 23, at 6 p.m., the series features 2017 Cannes Palme d’Or winner, The Square from director Ruben Östlund, about a Stockholm museum curator preparing for a new exhibition while experiencing a crisis of conscience. Shown at sold-out screenings during HIFF 2017, the film stars Claes Bang, Elisabeth Moss, Dominic West and Terry Notary.

On Saturday, December 30, at 6 p.m., audiences will enjoy Loving Vincent, a 2017 biographical and animated painted drama written and directed by Dorota Kobiela and Hugh Welchman about the life and death of artist Vincent van Gogh. Each of the film’s 65,000 frames is an oil painting on canvas created by a team of 115 painters who use the same technique as Van Gogh.

“Our audience has asked us for years to continue to program films after the annual film festival, and we are thrilled to make this dream a reality,” HIFF Executive Director Anne Chaisson says. “We are kicking off this series with some of the most artistic and daring films this year, which we know will equally challenge and delight.”

More about the films:

“Faces Places,” Photo: Courtesy HIFF

Faces PlacesDirector: Agnes Varda and JR
89-year-old Agnes Varda, one of the leading figures of the French New Wave, and acclaimed 33-year-old French photographer and muralist JR teamed up to make this enchanting documentary/road movie. Kindred spirits, Varda and JR share a lifelong passion for images and how they are created, displayed, and shared. Together they travel around the villages of France in JR’s photo truck meeting locals, learning their stories, and producing epic-size portraits of them. The photos are prominently displayed on houses, barns, storefronts, and trains, revealing the humanity in their subjects and the viewers. Faces Places documents these heartwarming encounters, as well as the unlikely, tender friendship the pair formed along the way.

“The Square,” Photo: Courtesy HIFF

The SquareDirector: Ruben Östlund
A precisely observed, thoroughly modern comedy of manners, Ruben Östlund’s Palme d’Or–winner revolves around Christian (Claes Bang), a well-heeled contemporary art curator at a Stockholm museum. While preparing his new exhibit—a four-by-four-meter zone designated as a “sanctuary of trust and caring”—Christian falls prey to a pickpocketing scam, which triggers an overzealous response, and then a crisis of conscience. Featuring several instant-classic scenes and a vivid supporting cast (Elisabeth Moss, Dominic West, and noted motion-capture actor Terry Notary), The Square is the most ambitious film yet by one of contemporary cinema’s most incisive social satirists and the rare movie to offer as many laughs as ideas.

“Loving Vincent,” Photo: Courtesy HIFF

Loving VincentDirectors: Dorota Kobiela, Hugh WelchmanThe world’s first fully oil-painted feature film, brings the artwork of Vincent van Gogh to life in an exploration of the complicated life and controversial death of one of history’s most celebrated artists. More than six years in the making, with the help of 125 specially trained painters, Loving Vincent is a uniquely animated film composed of 65,000 painted frames. Drawn from meticulous research and inspired by van Gogh’s masterpieces, subjects, and 800 personal letters, Loving Vincent captures the world of van Gogh in a cinematic experience like no other. AO Scott of The New York Times called it “Hypnotic and beguiling…”

“We live in a film-savvy community, but many of the best new releases never make it to our theaters,” Executive Director of Guild Hall Andrea Grover says. “We are thrilled to work with our longtime partners HIFF to fill this void.”

Tickets for screenings are $15 for general admission and $12 for HIFF and Guild Hall members. Additional screenings will be announced in coming weeks on hamptonsfilmfest.org.